IT IS EQUALLY A WOMAN'S WORLD-Adebowale Ibukun Oluwatosin

Adebowale Ibukun Oluwatosin

The woman is given to the man as a help meet and not as a house slave.This has always been my belief and in this way I relate with my wife at home.The following piece from Adebowale Ibukun is quite in line with what the Scripture teaches us about the woman/man relationship.God bless you as you read. A recent event triggered the memory of this story that really got me thinking. Here I was in a duplex I rented in Accra, as the only male in the house and here comes my landlord to preside over a meeting with all tenants. How will you clean the common room? He asked. I came up with a plan to draw a table to rotate it amongst ourselves and he said to me, 'You are a man', let the ladies decide amongst themselves.
You know the amazing part of it? I was the only student. They were all graduates, working class ladies, who leave home early and get back late used up, but all that didn't matter, as long as I'm a man they had to sweep the floor while I inspect. Honestly, that day it dawned on me that something is really wrong with the mind of the average African man. Something is really wrong.
And you know the baffling thing? The ladies didn't protest! They really were going to agree until I spoke up. I mean, we all pay same money and use the apartment equally but being a man makes me free from being responsible in taking care of house? How did we get here?! This is sick! I can't imagine having daughters
grow up with the mindset of being a slave to men wherever they go.
Truth is, we must admit women have been subject to so much in the name of 'submission'. We miss the fact that submission in scriptures is in the context of marriage where the man is told to love like Christ did. Christ washed the feet of His disciples as a symbol of service hence being head is not about being bossy but being a leader through service.
To claim that men and women have been treated equally in our world is to be dishonest. At least not in this part of the world where for many decades women were not entitled to education. Till date, once a woman gets married she's not entitled to any inheritance in her father's house in certain cultures. I don't get it. She's his wife, but still your daughter. Abi, when you die, won't she be expected to give you a befitting burial?
The change we need begins with every man. We need to start seeing women as equally entitled. And we need not relegate women to dirty jobs while we cross our legs inspecting. If indeed you feel stronger why subject women to much hectic jobs? That's an irony. We also need to stop being surprised when a woman is succeeding in anything. We need to start sowing the right thoughts into our children. Some parents find out the best student in a class is a girl and they begin to bully their child - 'See your life, it's a girl that's leading the class!' Can you see the damage being done to the mind of an innocent boy?
That's the making of a culturally configured male ego that makes him feel he is and has to be better than every woman in everything. It's about the way society and culture has programmed the mind of many to think abnormally. Dear man, renew your mind and let's make our women happy, confident, and full of good self esteem with our words and actions. It shouldn't be hard to treat people as equal. It's equally a woman's world.
Just a piece of my mind!